Opinion

Just days ago President Obama’s National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform met for the first time. At that meeting Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke expressed extreme concern over the effect of out-of-control government spending on the future of our nation’s struggling economy. Bernanke warned that “even after economic and financial conditions have returned to normal, in the absence of further policy actions, the federal budget appears set to remain on an unsustainable path.” This same message was previously delivered by Peter Orsza

In March and April of this year, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) made a couple of important announcements concerning the Agent Orange (AO) disability program. These included an announcement of the proposed rule published March 25 in the Federal Register stating that about 86,000 Vietnam War veterans, their surviving spouse or estate will be eligible for retroactive disability compensation from the VA – an average of 11.4 years for the veteran and 9.6 years for survivors.

Conventional wisdom in the nation’s capital right now is that Democrats are up against it in this fall’s elections and will probably lose a great many House seats and at least a few seats in the Senate.

Polling shows a very strong feeling against incumbents, but that feeling goes both ways, against Democrats and Republicans, too.

The party in power in the White House almost always loses Congressional seats in mid-term elections. It is no different this year.

The debate over a new healthcare reform plan that has been waged for over a year has finally resulted in a law.

Unfortunately the end of this debate did not yield bi-partisan results, and the law currently going forward will not likely survive the Supreme Court. There are a few reasons I do not support this final law, which are, among others:

One of my top priorities in Congress has been increasing access to quality, affordable education. To make our region competitive in the global economy, we must invest in our workforce, starting with pre-K and continuing through college and community college. That’s why I was proud to support the Student Aid and Fiscal Responsibility Act, which was included in the health care reconciliation bill that was signed into law on March 30, 2010. This measure will make college more affordable and at no cost to taxpayers by making common-sense reforms to the federal student loan system.

More than 7 million jobs have been lost in the last three years and over 3 million of those jobs have been lost since the President signed the so-called stimulus plan into law last year. Unfortunately, these are numbers that the American people are all too familiar with and yet the Congress continues to pursue an agenda that will further threaten American job creators. While Americans are asking “Where are the jobs?”, the Majority in Congress continues to demonstrate that they do not understand the priorities of our constituents or appreciate how private sector

It looks like nobody is too keen on immigration reform, even the “Democrats.” Earlier this month, shortly after Senator Charles Schumer brought up the subject at a news conference, Senator Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, quickly said that it wouldn’t be addressed during this Senate work session. He didn’t offer an idea of when the “Democrats” would bring it up.

Bedford County residents enjoyed a double-dose of good fortune last week. First the county supervisors passed a budget without raising taxes and then the world’s best bass fishermen put on a four-day show that thousands enjoyed and will continue to pay dividends to this region for months, and possibly years, to come.

enealogical Library continues to honor Confederate History Month with another story about buildings that have a link to the War Between the States. Last week we wrote about Fancy Grove in the southern part of the county. This story is about another home that was near there.

With the impending resignation of Associate Justice John Paul Stevens from the U.S. Supreme Court, President Obama will get at least one more chance to select a justice.

Obama took a relatively safe road with his choice last year of Sonia Sotomayor. As the first Hispanic on the court, she was a historic pick. But she was, and remains, a person with what is basically a middle of the road political philosophy.

Editor’s note: Last week’s editorial on the Bedford County Public Schools budget stated that the Early College program was a casualty of this year’s budget. While the school system’s support of the program is ending, CVCC is still offering the program. The following letter was submitted from CVCC about the program.